Monday, August 10, 2009

iPhone/iPod Touch Application for Children with Autism

Chatterboxes offers our clients trial therapy sessions using the iPhone/iPod Touch Application entitled, "Proloquo2Go." (http://www.proloquo2go.com/) We feel that this AAC application is compatible from a clinical perspecitve to more expensive Augmentative Communication devices.

Proloquo2.com notes, "Proloquo2go is a new product from AssitiveWare that provides a full-featured communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It brings natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 itesm, full expandability and extreme ease of use to the iPhone and iPod touch."

Chatterboxes SLP's are using Proloquo2Go with several children who are non-verbal ad on the Autism Spectrum, with great success. If your child is non-verbal and may need to use a device for communication, please do not hestiate to contact us for our clinical expertise with this product, or to learn whether this device my be a helpful component to your child's therapy plan.

Your posting brings many questions to mind in regards to your nephew's current speech & language skills and the appropriatness of the iPod software above:

-Is he verbal? (Does he use any consistent sounds,words, or approximations?)-How is his fine motor control?-Does he like computers/have an interest in techology?

I am using the Proloquo2Go Software with a 5 year old now, who does very well using the application to request highly motivating objects. In programming the device for him, I enlarged the buttons on the screen so that just 2 buttons appear; thus making motor control easier for his little hands.

I am interested to know if this application would be usable for two toddlers on the spectrum. Both are making sound approximations but are mainly just making sounds, not being verbal per se. Fine motor is an issue - but as you mentioned in your previous post, if you can make the buttons larger, what a great benefit to them!! BOTH LOVE TECHNOLOGY AND GADGETS - they request using the computer and games on the computer at least a few times a week and LOVE VIDEOS. Any input you have would be great. We are transitioning them to preschool in a month and we are wondering about the appropriateness of possibly obtaining an iTouch for both of them rather than using other technology for them in terms of cost/benefits and portability to generalize skills at home and school.

Want to follow us?

Twitter

Friend Us on Facebook!

About Megan

Megan earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of Tulsa. She went on to attain her Masters of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from The University of Tulsa. She is a Certified Member of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association ("ASHA").